Copyright Law exceptions
Copyright is a property right that is protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and the Copyright and Rights in Performances (Research, Education, Libraries and Archives) Regulations 2014.
There are provisions within these legislative documents, which allow for copyrighted works to be used without a licence or permission from the copyright owner. These provisions are widely known as copyright exceptions.
The four most relevant copyright exceptions to an educational establishment are:
- Research and private study
- Illustration for instruction
- Criticism / review / quotation
- Copying and use of extracts of works by educational establishments
These exceptions are explained in the sections below.
Central to these exceptions is the concept of fair dealing. Copyrighted works can only be used under the terms of the exceptions above if their use is considered fair dealing.
GOV.UK defines fair dealing as "a legal term used to establish whether a use of copyright material is lawful or whether it infringes copyright," and identifies the following factors as relevant in determining whether a particular dealing with a work is fair:
- does using the work affect the market for the original work? If a use of a work acts as a substitute for it, causing the owner to lose revenue, then it is not likely to be fair.
- is the amount of the work taken reasonable and appropriate? Was it necessary to use the amount that was taken? Usually only part of a work may be used.
GOV.UK (2014) Intellectual property - guidance: exceptions to copyright. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/exceptions-to-copyright (Accessed: 30 September 2022).
Another important concept that is required for use of these exceptions is that of sufficient acknowledgement. This generally means that you will need to identify the author, artist or creator of the work, and the title or some other identifying description of the work that has been copied.
More information about the exceptions is provided in the document linked to below:
Intellectual Property Office (2014) Exceptions to copyright: Education and Teaching. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/375951/Education_and_Teaching.pdf (Accessed: 22 September 2022).
Research and private study
This exception allows the fair dealing with a copyrighted work if the purpose of this use and copying is for research for a non-commercial purpose. The used and copied work must be accompanied by sufficient acknowledgement.
Copying and use of extracts of works by educational establishments
This exception allows the copying of extracts of a relevant work by educational establishments for their students. This includes the copying of copyrighted works for print course packs and the uploading of digital copies of copyrighted works to virtual learning environments.
The main difference between this exception and the others, is that this exception cannot be used if there is a licence that allows the making of these copies.
The Copyright Licensing Agency Higher Education Licence is one such licence. UWS holds this licence and so all copying for this purpose is covered by this licence. Please contact the Library Copyright Service at Copyright@uws.ac.uk if you need more information about this.
If you would like to upload digital copies of book chapters and/or journal articles to Aula / Moodle, please contact the Library CLA Scan team at CLAScan@uws.ac.uk.
Illustration for instruction
This exception allows the fair dealing with copyrighted works if the sole purpose is for illustration for instruction. This includes using copyrighted works in presentations, videos and podcasts and includes the use of copyrighted works in examination and cumulative assessment questions.
This exception is only allowed if the copyrighted works are used and copied
- for a non-commercial purpose,
- by a person giving or receiving instruction, and
- is accompanied by a sufficient acknowledgement.
Criticism / review / quotation and news reporting
This exception allows the fair dealing with a copyrighted work for the purpose of criticism or review or quotation or news reporting with the conditions that:
- the copyrighted work must be accompanied by sufficient acknowledgement, and
- the copyrighted work must have been made available to the public.
Glossary of Copyright Terms
Contains brief definitions of commonly used terms used in Copyright.
Help & Support
If the information held here does not answer the copyright-related questions that you have or if you would like more information about copyright, please contact the Library Copyright Service at Copyright@uws.ac.uk
